Pretender to the Throne

"To overcome oneself, one must look within. Climb this Sarah-only battle tower and banish those who would lay claim to your birthright!"

- In-game description

Pretender to the Throne is a Ranked "battle tower" event available in April 2019. It features a face-off with Sarah, across her job classes.

It's Sarah's turn! In layout, this is the standard progressive tower event in the Tower of Trials, similar to the I vs. I competition in January, but you are limited this time to either Sarah jobs or Ultimate Heroes to fight.

Event Details

 * Ranking Event duration: April 22 - 25, 2019 (with bug) April 25 - May 7, 2019 (corrected and restarted)
 * Event type: progressive Tower Battle

How to Participate

 * Select "Pretender to the Throne" from the Act 2 world map -- its own red spot.
 * This event is only accessible after a player clears the Runic Temple in Chapter 1

Story
Sarah comes to the Tower of Trials, expecting to run into her doppelgänger just like the others, and she certainly does! As the act opens, Sarah has already met her Cacciatrice opposite, and begun combat with her.

The double has a good bit more confidence than Sarah does, appealing to the original to just give up -- she isn't strong enough. Sarah won't back down, though, saying she won't rely on others.

But isn't that exactly what she's doing? Sarah is relying on her doubles in the Tower to make her stronger. The Cacciatrice taunts her that true strength will only come if she walks alone. Sarah is having none of it, and the fight is on. It's a tough fight, but that's expected since she's fighting herself.

By the time she reaches the top of the tower, Sarah has a different perspective: relying on other people are a benefit for her. She acknowledges the Cacciatrice's accusation that she has no sense of self, but she has realized that she can fly like an arrow if others will act as her bow. It's an intriguing idea to the Cacciatrice, and the double is willing to follow along with that to see what will happen.

In the meantime, Sarah is keen to keep testing her limits against her doubles... and the Cacciatrice is only too willing to oblige. The fight continues into the Phantasmic Coil, for as long as Sarah is able to fight.

Competition Reset
Square noted on April 23 that a bug was preventing the Ranked Competition from registering Boss Kills correctly, so there were no rankings. After issuing a hot-fix for the region, Square restarted the Region from scratch on April 25, and also extended the closing date from May 1 to May 7. Those players that got prizes for completed areas on the first run got to keep them, and could claim them a second time after the level was restarted. Square also sent x3 to all players for the inconvenience.

Gameplay
Players in this area must use a Sarah job in both the primary and secondary decks to be allowed to play. But there is a loophole - if you use an Ultimate Hero job card, you can set any job you like to it, Sarah or not. The first selection screen will only show you the job sets that meet these requirements, or you'll get a denial message if you have none. Go set up your jobs!

Play in this area works up a single chain of levels, from the beginning Abyss level up to the top Ragnarok level. As you work your way up the tower, the battles at each level will get progressively harder.

Each area has three battles:
 * 1) The first one is against five Dark Moogles, split between two elements.
 * 2) The second one is against various Boss fiends.
 * 3) The third features a confrontation with Sarah in one of her recent Job outfits, decked with recent Ability Cards. These can include Supreme Cards like Eden: FFVIII (Last Breath), and the power ramps up fairly quickly. Add to this the new battle system, which gives the enemy an attack after only 1-2 actions of your own, and the danger is not to be underestimated.

Sarah will have a set of orb icons on her status, indicating how many elemental orbs she has. As she attacks, these will fill up, and she will use them to cast abilities at you. Hitting her with opposite element attacks will reduce the number of orbs he has.

The end of his status bar also shows her Ultimate Gauge. When this fills to 100, she'll hit you with the same Ultimate Ability you'd expect for that Job. You can delay this by hitting her with non-elemental attacks while she's Broken, and during your own Mobius Zone periods.

Finally, every few turns Sarah will switch from an Attacker role to a Breaker role, and a few turns later, back again. When she does, her elemental affinity will shift, and she will switch to a different set of Abilitites. (just like your own Job Change Shift)

Event Map
"In a new Palamecia, Sarah seeks the strength to stand on her own without having to wholly depend on anyone else for protection. Just as an arrow soars through the sky, Sarah too seeks a path straight and true."

- World Map description

The region is the standard Tower of Trials -- one path with a staircase up, and a platform every 2 levels, leading up to the top at the 50th "Ragnarok" level. You cannot return to previous levels once they've been beaten.

After completing the Highest Level: Ragnarok, you enter the "Phantasmic Coil" areas. This is a set of 5 areas that repeat in an infinite loop, also with an increasing difficulty with each area finished. On these levels, there is no fifth Rental Card allowed, and if you lose, you cannot use s to continue. A Prize of x5 is handed out for each loop of 5 completed.

There are 31 areas, including the Phantasmic Coil and the Starting Area. There are 26 treasure chests. Since the treasure chest in the Phantasmic Coil regenerates on each pass, the region technically cannot be Cleared.

Areas
The "ladder" consist of 20 levels, but only 25 actual areas. As you progress, the previous areas become inaccessible -- you can only go up.

Phantasmic Coil
The five levels after Ragnarok are set in an infinite loop, with a prize on the completion of the fifth area on each loop. Players cannot use s to continue the battle if they lose, and the fifth "rental" card is not available.

The skrimishes here have a pre-set collection of fiends, but after the 65th kill they will change to other fiends, and again after the 105th kill. The third skirmish always remains as described.

Ranking Rewards
The game awards the Battle Princess job card to you at the beginning of the contest, maxed out, if you have not already obtained it from Act 1 Chapter 8: Closing the Loop! This guarantees that all players can participate, regardless of experience or Job collection.

Anyone who completes all of the normal levels should make it within the top 30,000 players, though it may still require a run or two through the Phantasmic Coil to breach the top 10,000.

The top 2,000 players will get s as a reward. These are used to open special high-end rewards in the Rift.

Notable Enemies

 * Enlil
 * Fenrir
 * Cockatrice
 * Behemoth
 * Bone Dragon

Sarah's aspects

 * Nachtflug
 * Al Bhed Huntress
 * Proud Cygnus
 * Magitek Heroine
 * Cacciatrice